The Sting
by karoanton
Summary: Written for the CCOAC Writer's of the Silver Screen Challenge.  Spencer plays Joplin in the early morning hours and wakes up Emily.  Reid/Prentiss established relationship


**Written for the Writers of the Silver Screen Challenge**

**It's different from my usual Reid/Seaver pairing, but I like these two together as well, although I would more likely ship Emily with Morgan.**

**Characters: Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss**

**Prompt: The Sting**

**Summary: Spencer plays Scott Joplin on his keyboard in the early morning hours and wakes up Emily.**

When Spencer woke up one morning, his first instinct was to get out of bed and practise. As he sat up, he looked over at the sleeping form next to him. _Best keep the volume down so as not to wake her_, he thought.

He got out of bed and walked around the room, picking up and putting on a t-shirt and some workout pants that had been lazily thrown around – he and Emily never seemed to put in enough time for cleaning up their apartment.

As soon as he was dressed, he quietly exited the bedroom into the living room. From there, he made his way to the keyboard that was tucked quietly into a corner. Thinking of the keyboard and how just after he had bought it, him and his team had been given the news that Emily Prentiss had died at the hands of Ian Doyle. Spencer was easily the most heart-broken out of all of them – everyone knew how much he had cared about her, even Seaver, of whom it was initially thought that Reid was "crushing on" as Garcia would put it. And then finding out that she was alive, it was like he had reunited with his father all over again. However, it was certainly much less awkward – Emily's "death" was because she wanted to protect the people she loved, not because she succumbed to her guilt, and she was only gone a few months, not seventeen years without bothering to make any contact.

Bringing his mind back to the present, it had been five months since she had returned to the BAU. In that time, Spencer had been able to sum up the courage to tell her about his feelings – feelings which she had (non-surprisingly) reciprocated and they had pursued a relationship after he had recovered from the shock (and slight feeling of betrayal) that came with learning of Emily's being alive. Despite the initial feeling that they were rushing, they had decided to move in together a month previously and were happy together.

Spencer strode over to the keyboard and pulled out the small bench from underneath before sitting down and turning the instrument on. He made sure that the volume was down low enough so that Emily would not be awakened before he began to play. When he had first bought the keyboard, it took him some time to get accustomed to how it worked. In a not too short time, he was able to play some pieces that should have been much too difficult for a beginner to even think of attempting. But then again, this is Spencer Reid, a member of the elite Behavioural Analysis Unit, IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and the ability to read 20,000 words per minute. He didn't even buy sheet music because he could just look at the pages in a store and they would be in his head instantly. It wasn't exactly legal, but the store clerks wouldn't be able to tell, would they? His actual purchasing of different books began after Emily had moved in and she wanted to know how to play some of the pieces that he'd learned. She had been taught classical piano when she was growing up, so she caught on almost as easily as he did.

At the moment, he was learning some pieces by Scott Joplin. The thought of that specific composer came about when Emily made him watch "The Sting" with her one evening on TCM. While she spent the evening drooling over Robert Redford and Paul Newman, he was engaged in listening to the ragtime tunes that were played in the background. After that, he went to the music store and bought a whole book of Joplin songs.

He liked all of the pieces included in the book, but his favourite was Joplin's most famous piece, _The Entertainer_. Every few days, he would play it just to keep it fresh in his memory (not that he needed too) and on his fingertips.

Once he had begun playing, Spencer was too in-tune with the music to pay any attention to what was happening behind him. Despite his efforts at playing quietly, Emily had woken up anyways and was now watching him play while leaning against the doorframe of their bedroom. Once he had finished playing he turned off the keyboard and turned to see his girlfriend gazing at him. She had dressed herself in one of his dress shirts.

"Joplin again, Spencer?" she asked.

Spencer chuckled lightly, the shy, boyish laugh Emily always loved. She walked over to the corner of the living room where he was still sitting and wrapped her arms around him from behind, tucking her chin into the crook of his neck.

"Fancy letting me have a try now?" she said, teasingly.

"Sure," he said and got up so that she could take the seat. "I'll get breakfast ready in the meantime."

Emily nodded as she watched him make his way into the kitchen.

**I dunno, I kinda feel like I rushed the ending a little, but whatevs, hope you all liked it.**

**RxR pretty please **


End file.
